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The USA team of missionaries representing multiple churches and Open Arms Outreach/ Kairos Caribe succeeded in all the primary objectives of this short term trip in late February and early March. Pulling a team together is no small task. I want to personally thank Andy Whitman for laboring with his team from Newport NH for many months of preparation. A large group of 16 set out to serve in multiple arenas. Here is the short list. The Iglesia Cristiana El Redil (formerly Buen Pastor- AG) was without water in an urban street where the city only pumped water for several hours per week. Folks are occupying themselves for a great part of the day fetching water from far away sources in 5 gallon buckets. Water can be bought but for many of the poor that is not feasible. Now that the church owns the land with certifiable paper, we could make the investment in digging a well. We hit water at thirty feet but went down to eighty feet and hit a very ample aquifer. We put in a submersible pump and roof tank holding 500 gallons and plumbed up some sinks and then ran septic lines to a tank underground and then a second filtered well to dissipate the effluent. (Kind of a vertical leech field). We worked alongside hired help and well digging rigs and managed to get all this done for about $4,000 USD. This water will be a blessing not only to the church but to the community as well.
Meanwhile we attended dynamic worship services, walked through the poorest neighborhoods, praying and bringing comfort and cheer. At one outdoor meeting in Palmarejo, a Haitian village and former Batey, many children came to Christ after an invitation to pray and Jonas and Zach presented the gospel using colored beads on bracelets that were given out. Prayer lines were formed for healing and many came to our team, touched by the Presence of God. Wherever we went we invited people to our free medical clinic to be held on our last day. Tom led a group into the schools to do skits and get to know the students. Pastor Victor's church was greatly encouraged that there is now water at the church and we rejoiced with Davidic dance and worship together with our Dominican brothers and sisters. The spiritual implications of a new well dug in dry land spoke of the promise of a well-spring of salvation to occur in their midst as well.
Finally on our last day we gave a free clinic at our Ebenezer Clinic and saw about 1,000 people, mostly women and children who are too poor to afford their prescriptions. One group of families received Baclofen, donated by Valley Regional Hospital in Claremont, NH providing more than a six month supply for each disabled child who must live on this drug to control muscle spasms. The problem there is the medicine is cost prohibitive. Our team lavished these families with love. God knows! We had more than $180,000 of donated medicines in all distributed by our doctors with enough left over to give to the Children's Hospital in Santo Domingo. We shared the gospel in the waiting area with successive groups and more than 100 received Christ as Lord and Savior. Bless God!!!
Our next trip is scheduled for June/ July and we encourage you to learn more about how you can participate with us as a missionary or as a financial partner. For details see our link: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=203750336317560
We thank all who participated sacrificially for going, for financing, for the teamwork it took to keep this group going. Special thanks to Michele for keeping us well fed and laundry cleaned and working hard behind the scenes so the team could be refreshed and in good health. May God bless you each and everyone, good and faithful servants of our Lord Jesus Christ.
In His Eternal Service,
Ken Peters
Director OAO/KC
